Meters or devices for measuring an analyte or indicator, e.g. glucose, HbA1c, lactate, cholesterol, in a fluid such as a body fluid, e.g. blood, plasma, interstitial fluid (ISF), urine, typically make use of disposable test sensors. A test sensor that is specific for the analyte or indicator of interest may be inserted within a connector in the meter or system, or be delivered to a test location from within the meter or system. The test sensor becomes physically and electrically connected with a measuring circuit. A sample, for example blood, plasma, interstitial fluid (ISF) or urine, will typically contain numerous soluble or solubilized components, one of which will be the analyte or indicator of interest. An example user group that might benefit from the use of such a meter or system are those affected with diabetes and their health care providers.
Most conventional meters, such as blood glucose meters for example, enable the user to store the measurement values within an internal memory, along with the date and time at which each was taken. Such information is useful to the patient's healthcare practitioner (HCP) in prescribing a regiment for disease control, however capturing further information requires additional steps to be performed by the user and is typically overlooked.
Some meters such as the One Touch UltraSmart (available from LifeScan Inc., Milpitas, Calif.) allow several types of information related to exercise, health, medication and food for example, to be entered from one of four menu screens—the menu screens having first been selected from a result screen by a specific button.